Montreal Canadiens: Poor Penalty Killing Costing the Habs

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Dec 31, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Conor Sheary (43) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Montreal Canadiens during the third period at the PPG PAINTS Arena. The Pens won 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

The Montreal Canadiens poor penalty killing is starting to take it toll, and has attributed to the teams recent losses.

The Montreal Canadiens have suddenly found themselves in a cold snap. The Habs have lost four of the last five games, and have blown third period leads late in games. The Canadiens still managed to earn four of a possible six points this past week, but they could have easily had a perfect three wins.

One the Habs areas of weakness has been their inept Penalty Killing. The Canadiens have typically been a solid Penalty Killing team over the past few years, but recently it’s failed them. The Canadiens Penalty Killing has also been especially bad on the road.

So far this season the Canadiens are ranked 19th overall and are killing off Penalties 80.9 percent of the time. However, the Habs road Penalty Kill is ranked 27th and are only killing off Power Plays 74.6 percent of the time. If the Canadiens want to maintain first place in the Atlantic Division, they need to fix their struggling PK.

Weekly 3 Stars

The Habs Penalty Kill was one of the reasons why they lost two out of three games this week. The Canadiens blew two third period leads to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. However, the Canadiens will take the four points that they earned in the Standings, this past week.

The Habs get some exceptional performance from many players this week, but a few stood out from the rest. Here are the Canadiens three stars of the week:

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